Barn Tour: Marty Drexler is climbing the charts at Woodbine

Think about the top trainers at Woodbine, and you’re likely to think Mark Casse right off the bat, followed by Kevin Attard.

You might not think of Marty Drexler, but he’s in second place in the standings, well behind Casse and five wins ahead of Attard.

Drexler, 53, has built his stable steadily and purposefully, mostly by playing the claiming game. He didn’t grow up with family in the horse business, instead getting his start as a mutuels clerk at Assiniboia Downs.

“I just got to know a lot of people, I enjoyed the races, I started following the races,” Drexler told Horse Racing Nation on Monday from his barn at Woodbine. “I got to know a bunch of their trainers and one thing led to another, you kind of help out at the barn a couple of times and then I started working part time in the morning. This is like, 1989, 1990, somewhere around there. And I just decided I wanted to give it a shot.”

By 2007, he was the top trainer at the Winnipeg track in wins and earnings. The next year, he was the top earner and second in wins.

Then it was off to Woodbine, where the competition was tougher. Drexler finished third in the trainer standings last year with a record of 370: 70-72-49. This year, his record there stands at 134: 35-26-13.

One thing that has helped him grow is that he spent the last two winters in Florida rather than shutting down for the winter.

“Just for the business end of it, it seems like you've got to kind of just keep going,” he said.

As a result, “we've been able to claim horses, and my stock has just improved,” he said. Drexler said he now trains 60-something horses, up from 20 to 25 in the past.

But he still aspires for more.

“I have great owners, but I haven't reached that next stage yet. I'd like to get a phone call from the bigger guys,” he said. “And the other thing I'm still looking for is a little bit more of a break with the younger horses. I just haven't had my hands on anything of any consequence when it comes to 2-year-olds and 3-year olds. We do a lot of older horse business, a lot of claimers, a lot of horses that we've taken and improved them and made them into allowance and stakes horses. But I just haven't had a chance to really train a really good 2-year-old. … When you're running against Mark Cassie and Kevin Attard it gets to be a little bit tough.”

Drexler discussed some of the top horses in his stable for the latest in HRN’s Barn Tour series.

Il Malocchio. Drexler has trained her since she got her start, and the 5-year-old mare by Souper Speedy has given him two of his four career graded-stakes victories. She won the Grade 3 Trillium by a head last month and the La Prevoyante (G3) in November. She “beat a really tough field in there, so I was pretty impressed with how she ran that day. … She's just an honest mare. She tries every time and things have just got to set up for her. But on the synthetic, she seems to be one of the top mares on the ground for sure.” She is nominated for the Dance Smartly (G2) on Aug. 20, but Drexler said he’s 50-50 on whether to start her there because it’s a turf race.

Carrothers. The 5-year-old son of Mshawish was claimed by Drexler for Mad Dog Racing Stable in February for $35,000 and won his next three races. He finished second last out in the Seagram Cup (G2). “Ultimately, what Carrothers has ended up being is a really good synthetic horse. And that's kind of where he's really found his little niche right now. He's a great horse, ton of personality to him. Just nice, big, sound. Wish I could claim them all like that for 35. But he's a tricky horse to ride in a race, that's kind of been his little bit of a downfall. He can get a little bit too eager, and he'll lug in a little bit. And he kind of lays on the one side a little bit, but he's a good boy. He's big, but he's like a kid. He's always looking for treats and things.” His next start hasn’t been determined, Drexler said. “He's basically a two-turn synthetic stake horse and there's only so many spots, doing that.”

Souper Watson. Drexler claimed this 6-year-old son of Ghostzapper for $40,000 in December 2021, and he’s finished in the money in 10 of his 12 starts since. “The whole sprinting thing kind of took him a little bit to figure out. He was a route horse on the synthetic who was just not quite getting there. And I actually came across sprinting him almost by accident. I basically wanted to get a race into him last year at the beginning of the year, and that was a short field going five-eighths or something like that. And I said, well, instead of breezing I'm just going to run him here and see what happens. And he got beat a neck at the wire and was absolutely flying. So I thought, well, I'm not going to go two turns with him anytime soon, so I might as well try keeping him around that five-and-a-half, six-furlong distance. And he's got an incredible final eighth of a mile. I mean, he levels out, he pins his ears, and he's really figured out the sprinting game. He makes that run every single time.” He’s gone through all three levels of his conditions, so a stakes race is next for him, likely the Bold Venture (G3) on Aug. 19.

Cotton. Drexler claimed this 5-year-old son of Twirling Candy for $15,000 in November, and he’s 3-for-5 since. “He's a very, very talented horse. Probably better on the synthetic than he is on the turf. … But he's kind of a tricky gate horse. He's got a lot of gate issues that we always have to deal with. He's a little bit of a nervous horse to bring out to the races. And so he uses himself up a little bit in the paddock. So you have the saddle on the walk. He's a little bit of a tricky horse, but a really good boy in the barn and everything. He's a super cool horse.” After a disappointing sixth-place finish in his last start, he’ll get a few weeks to recuperate before his next start.

Souper Dormy. The 6-year-old son of Into Mischief “probably was the best of the whole bunch,” Drexler said, but he is out for the season with an injury after finishing fifth in the Highlander Stakes (G2) on July 1. “It was minor, but it was enough that I just didn't want to take any chances.”

Perhaps Tonight. Elliott Logan’s TEC Racing bought the 5-year-old Sir Prancealot mare for $16,000 in January, and she won three straight for Drexler. She was claimed in May for $32,000, and then Drexler claimed her back for Logan for $50,000 after her next race, a second-place effort on June 17. “Now she's going to run in a second-level allowance on the grass, whatever race comes up.”

Old Chestnut. Claimed in November by Drexler and owner Bruno Schickedanz for $32,000 in October, the now 6-year-old son of Speightstown won his next start and then tried three graded stakes, finishing third, fourth and most recently fifth in the Connaught Cup (G2). “He's another good one. He's a pretty exciting horse. … I really think he can win a stake, that horse. Sprinting on the synthetic, it's kind of his thing.” His next start also could come in the Bold Venture.